Multiple channel automatic shift mechanism for typographical composing machines



Sept. 21, 1954 LPMAN 2,689,640

P. HI MULTIPLE CHANNEL AUTOMATIC SHIFT MECHANISM FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING MACHINES Filed Feb. 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 BY d INVENTOR M41, W

ATTORNEYS UTOMATIC SHIFT MECHANISM FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 21, 1950 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 21, 1954 MULTIPLE CHANNEL AUTOMATIC SHIFT MECHANISM FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING MACHINES Paul Hilpman, Garden City, N. Y., assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application February 21, 1950, Serial No. 145,479

This invention relates to typographical machines, such as Linotype machines of the general organization represented in Letters Patent of the United States to O. Mergenthaler, No. 436,532, wherein matrices representing the various characters are stored in individual channels of a magazine and are released therefrom in the order in which they are to appear in print by the actuation of escapement devices controlled by the finger keys. the more frequently used characters, such as the letter 8, in two adjacent channels of the magazinc and toeffect their release automatically from the different channels in alternation. Various devices for accomplishing this result have been proposed, but they have usually proven unsatisfactory due to their uncertainty of operation. When subjected to continuous use on the machine, the combined effects of wear and accumulated dirt and grime have a tendency to cause the shifting parts to react sluggishly, that is to say, the common actuating device fails to make a complete shift from one operative position to the other and, as a consequence, no matrix is released from either of the magazine channels.

. The present invention overcomes the above and other objectionable features by providing means which will unfailingly shift the actuating device into operative relationship with one or the other of the, escapement devices to therebyinsure the release of a matrix from one of the magazine channels even though the automatic shifting mechanism itself should fail to function properly. Another feature of the invention consists in providing a hand lever to render the shifting mechanism inoperative when it is desired to permit the release of all the matrices representing In these machines, it. is common to store 8 Claims. (Cl. 199-24) the particular character from a single magazine channel.

Other features will be described in the detaile description to follow.

The accompanying drawings show the invention in preferred form, but obviously many variations and modifications may be made within its spirit. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any particular form or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

, Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, of the escapement devices and the improved auto matic shifting mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the shifting mechanism; Fig. 3 is a top plan view thereof; Fig. 4 is an enlarged end view, partly in section; Fig. 5 is an enlarged front view, partly in sec tion, showing the escapement actuating device in one of its shifted positions;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the actuating device in the course of its upward (escapement actuating) movement;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the actuating device in the other of its shifted positions; and

Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 88 of Fig.

5, looking in the direction of the arrows, and

showing the locking latch for the actuating device.

Referring to Fig. l of the drawings, the matrices l are stored in individual channels 2 of the magazine 3 and are released therefrom by the actuation of the escapements 4 under the control of the vertical reeds 5. The two outermost reeds 5 and 5 with which the invention is alone concerned, are alternately operated by the actuating device 6 arranged to cooperate with the usual keyrod I, which is operated by power in the regular way. Thus, the depression of the finger key 8 by the operator raises the keyboard bar 9 and trips the trigger In to release the yoke I I, allowing the cam I 2 to fall upon the constantly rotating rubber roll l3 and partake of one complete rotation in rocking the yoke I l upwardly to lift the keyrod l. The parts so far described are of the usual construction and are more fully described in U. S. Patent to D. S. Kennedy, No. 1,305,548.

The present invention is directed to a simplified form of mechanism for shifting the actuating device 6 laterally to cooperate alternately with the reeds 5 and 5 each time the finger key 8 is depressed. In the embodiment illustrated, the shifting mechanism is mounted as a whole in a supporting bracket A removably secured, as by screws B, to the front frame member C of the machine. As a consequence, the shifting mechanism may be readily applied to or removed from the machine as a unit. Referring now in detail to the parts:

The actuating device 6 is slidably arranged in slotted guide plates l4 and I5 attached by screws to the bracket A and, when at rest is supported at its lower end by means of a shoulder l6 which seats upon the lower guide plate M. The upper guide plate I5 is divided into two parallel slots by oppositely disposed projecting lugs I! of an overlying plate I8, these lugs constituting .in effect a common separating wall for the two slots with an opening therethrough to permit the lateral shifting of the actuating device from slot to slot. In this connection, it is pointed out that the actuating device is reduced in width at its upper end, as at 6 in order to pass through the opening of the slot separating wall but remains of full width below the wall in order to be properly guided thereby as it is raised and lowered in either of its shifted positions. The narrow and wide portions of the actuating device merge into squaredoif shoulders 19 presenting upwardly facing double-bevelled orV-shaped edges to cooperate with similar but downwardly facing edges formed on the lugs H. By virtue of these mutually engaging cam surfaces, the actuating device when" moved upwardly to actuate anescapement is forced, if need be, into one or the other of the guide slots and thus located positively in one or the other of its escapement actuating positions Normally, the automatic. shifting mechanism,

about to be described, will cause the actuatin device to operate first one escapement and then the other in alternation, but the'cam'surfaces will always insure the operation of at least one of the escapements at each key actuation.

The lateral shifting movements of the actuating'device' are efiected'by means of an upright arm 20 pivoted at 2! to .oneleg of anL-shaped plate 22 whose other leg is attached to the side face of the actuating device. Just below the pivot 2|, and at opposite sides thereof, the arm 20 is formed with two oppositely disposed cam surfaces 23 and 24, which are adapted to cooperate with a pair of oppositely disposed lugs 25 and 26, re-

.spectively, formed at the opposite ends of a cross plate 21 secured to the bracket A back of the arm 20. adjacent its ,pivot 21.. A pin 28, protruding from the lower extremity of the arm 20;limits the rocking movements of the arm in opposite directions by engagement with the lower edge of the L-shaped plate .22.

Associated with the arm 20, and adapted Ito rock therewith,.is asecond upright arm 29 pivoted at 3.0 .to .a small bracket plate 3| which is secured tothesupporting bracket A in. a vertical plane stillback of the plane containing the cross plate 21. Thepivots 2i and 30 .of the two arms .are arranged invertical alignment, with the arm 29 terminating above the pivot 2.! for the arm. 20. The relative arrangement of the parts iswell illustratedin Figs. 1, zand 4, from which it will benoted thatthe arm :20 rocks back and .forth infront of the cross plate .21 while the arm 29 rocks back and forthin back of the-plate. .It willalso be: noted that .the arm 20, although pivotally mounted on the actuating device 6,

stands entirely clear of the actuating device as bodily with the two arms intheir rocking movements,

In Fig. 5 the. actuating device G-is shown in operative relation-to the escapement reed 5*, while in Fig. 7 it is shown in operative relation to the escapement reed 5 The shift from one position to the other takes place .as. follows: When lifted bythepower-operated keyrod I, the actuating device is thrust upwardlyto engage and actuate the .escapement reed 5 for the release of amatrix from the correspondingmagazine channel. During this upwardthrust of the actuating device, thearm 20 (pivotally mounted thereon) is thrust upwardly therewith and, by virtue of the engagement of the cam surface 24 on the armwith the stationary lug-26, will be rocked clockwise beyond a vertical position, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 5, and finally arrested in its rocked position by the stop pin28. The second arm 29 plate 3|), due to its connection with the arm 20 through the medium of the spring 32, will also be rocked clockwise beyond the vertical position, thus locating the parts past dead center and conditioning the spring (when allowed to act) to shift the actuating device .to the alternate position' shown in Fig. '7. This shifting of the actuating device, however, can not take place at once because of the guide lugs I! which at the time are in engagement with the wide portion of theiactuatingdevice, somewhat as shown in Fig. 6. But once the actuating device completes its downward stroke, under the influence of the spring .32., orat least until the shoulders I9 pass below the lugs. 11,- then the spring will be free to perform its shifting function, the narrow upper portion 6 of the -actuating device passing through the opening between the lugs 11. With the parts in the alternate position-shown in Fig. '7, the next upward .thrust of the actuating device will cause it to engage and actuate the escapem'ent reed 5 for "the release of amatrix'from' the correspond-'- ing magazine channel; During this next upward thrust of the'actuatingdevice, the othercam surface 23 of the arm 20 will engage the other stationary lug 2 5 "and cause the arm 20 andthe arm29 to berocked in the oppositedirection or back to the position shown in Fig. 5, the actual shifting'of the actuating device taking place, as before, only after it haseompleted its downward movement. In short, the automatic shifting mechanism comprises means conditioned by the upward movement of theactuatingdevice to effect a'shifting movement, and'means conditioned by the downward movement of the a'ctuatingdevice to permit its shifting movement.

As may have "been observed, the center-overthrow spring 32 performs four important func-' tions, namely, (1') it normallyholds the actuating device in either of its shifted positions'and in operative relation to'the corresponding escapement reed 5 O1.!5 .(2) it exerts considerable tension on the actuating device in depressing it after each upward power thrust, (3) it completes the rocking of the pivoted arms '20 and '29 in opposite directions in effecting the shifting of the actuating device, and.(4) it maintains the arms under tension in either of their rocked positions and with the cam surface 23 or 24in engaging relation to the cooperating stationary'lug 25.0r 26.

Should, for any reason, theautomatic shifting mechanism fail to locate the actuating device in properengaging relation to either of the escapement reeds 5 or 5, any tendencyof the actuate ing device to assume a neutral position between the escapement reeds (which would result in an idle operation with no release of the matrix from either magazine channel) will be positively overcome by the engagement of the double-bevelled shoulders I9 with the double-bevelled lugs 11, such engagement serving (as before explained) to cam or deflect the actuating deviceinto .one guide slot or the other as it is thrust upwardly .by

, the power-operatedkeyrod 1 (see, for example,

Fig.6).

There will be occasions when itsis desired to confine the operation of the finger key. 8 .to one magazine channel alone, asfor example the channel served by-the escapement .reed .5. To accomplish this purpose,means areprovided for locking the actuatingdevice 6 in one of its actuating positions, say, the positionsshown inFig. 5. In the preferred form illustrated,- such locking means comprise abenthand lever 33 cen trally pivoted to the supporting bracket A, as at 34, and presenting an upper grip portion 35 and a lower lug portion 36, the latter portion being arranged adjacent the actuating device 6 and formed with a bevelled surface 31 to engage the actuating device in either of its shiftedpositions. In one position of the hand lever, as shown by the full lines in Fig. 8, the lug portion 36 will stand clear of the actuating device 6 and permit it to be shifted laterally, whereas in the other position of the hand lever, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 8, the lug portion will bear against the actuating device and prevent such shifting.

While the improved automatic shifting mechanism has been designed primarily for the release of matrices from two diiferent magazine channels, it is evident that it is capable of use in any machine environment which contemplates the automatic shifting of a single actuating device back and forth between two difierent actuating positions.

What is claimed is:

1. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of a vertically movable actuating device shiftable laterally to two different actuating positions alternately, an upright arm pivotally mounted at its lower end on the actuating device and rockable in opposite directions to effect its shifting movements, means controlled by the repeated actuations of the actuating device for imparting such rocking movements to the pivoted arm, a second upright arm pivotally mounted at its lower end on a stationary part of the machine and rockable in opposite directions along with the first pivoted arm, the pivots of the two said arms being arranged substantially in vertical alignment and the upper end of the second arm terminating above the pivot of the first arm, and a center-overthrow spring connecting the free ends of the two pivoted arms and movable bodily therewith in exercising its overthrow action.

2. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of a vertically movable actuating device shiftable laterally to two different actuating positions alternately, means controlled by the repeated actuations of the actuating device for effecting its shifting movements, and a guide for the upper end of the actuating device, said guide presenting two parallel slots with a common separating wall formed with an opening to permit the actuating device when in a depressed position to be shifted laterally back and forth from slot to slot, and said actuating device in a raised position presenting a portion wider than the opening in the separating wall so as to be prevented from lateral shifting in such raised position.

3. In a typographical composing machine, the combination according to claim 2, wherein the V actuating device and the slot separating wall are formed with mutually engaging cam surfaces to force the actuating device into one slot or the other during its upward movement.

4. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of a pair of actuatable members, an actuating device shiftable into engaging relation to first one member and then the other alternately, an arm pivotally mounted on the actuating device and rockable in opposite directions to effect its shifting movements, a pair of stationary members arranged to be engaged alternatel by the pivoted arm during the repeated actuations of the actuating device for imparting such rocking movements to the arm, a second arm pivotally mounted on a stationary part of the machine and rockable in opposite directions along to first one member and then the other alternately, an arm pivotally mounted on the actuating device and rockable in opposite directions to effect its shifting movements, a pair of stationary members arranged to be engaged alternately by the pivoted arm during the repeated actuations of the actuating device for imparting such rocking movements to the arm, and a pin carried by the pivoted arm and arranged to engage a relatively stationary stop on the actuating device for limiting the rocking movements of the pivoted arm in opposite directions.

6. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of a pair of actuatable members, an actuating device shiftable into engaging relation to first one member and then the other alternately, an arm pivotally mounted on the actuating device and rockable in opposite directions to effect its shifting movements, a pair of stationary members arranged to be engaged alternately by the pivoted arm during the repeated actuations of the actuating device for imparting such rocking movements to the arm, and manual means operable at will for locking the actuating device in one of its actuating positions, said locking means comprising a hand lever pivotally mounted on a stationary part of the machine and having a bevelled lug to engage the actuating device and move it to and hold it in one of its actuating positions.

7. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of a pair of actuatable members, a

vertically movable actuating device shiftable into engaging relation to first one member and then the other alternately, an upright arm pivotally mounted at its lower end on the actuating device and rockable in opposite directions to effect its shifting movements, said arm being formed adjacent to and at opposite sides of and below its pivot with a pair of oppositely disposed cam surfaces, a pair of stationary members arranged above and engageable with said cam surfaces during the upward movements of the actuating device for positively imparting such rocking movements to the pivoted arm, and a center-overthrow spring attached to the upper end of the pivoted arm and serving to assistin rocking the arm to and in holding it in either of its two difierent positions.

8. In a typographical composing machine, the combination according to claim 7 including, as a further element, means mounted on the vertically movable actuating device in position to engage the pivoted arm below and at opposite sides of its pivot and limit its rocking movements in opposite directions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain of 1912 

